Lum and Abner
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Lum and Abner was an American radio comedy which was on the air as a first-run network program from 1932 to 1954.
The show was set in the fictional Pine Ridge, Arkansas which was based on the town of Waters, Arkansas and some of its residents. The stars of the show were Chester Lauck and Norris Goff, who had known each other since childhood and attended the University of Arkansas together.
The two performed locally and had established a blackface act which led to an audition at radio station KTHS in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Prior to the audition the two men decided to change their act and portray two hillbillies since there were already an overabundance of blackface acts at the time. After only a few shows in Hot Springs they were picked up nationally by the NBC Radio Network as a two-week replacement series named "Lum and Abner". The show was sponsored by Quaker Oats and ended up lasting until 1932. Lauck and Goff performed several different characters on the show and modeled many of them after real life residents of the town of Waters, Arkansas.
After the Quaker Oats contract expired the two returned to Mena and continued to broadcast over Dallas, Texas stations WBAP and WFAA. In 1933 Ford Motor Company became their sponsor for approximately a year before Horlick's Malted Milk Company came on board.
The Horlick's company took a great interest in the show and produced a number of premium items including almanacs and fictional newspapers from Pine Ridge. In 1936, for the Arkansas Centennial celebration Lauck and Goff proposed that the name of Waters, Arkansas be changed to Pine Ridge, Arkansas.
In 1938 the Postum Company took over and sponsored the show for two years and then Miles Labs, the makers of Alka-Seltzer, took over for eight years.
During the 1940s "Lum and Abner" starred in several motion pictures built around their radio characters. In 1948 the show changed from a 15-minute "comedic soap opera" to a 30-minute self-contained show. New writers were added as well as an orchestra and a live audience. Many listeners were unhappy with the show and it changed back to its original format in 1953.
The show went off the air in 1954 due to competition from television and the failing health of Goff. In total "Lum and Abner" broadcast over 5,000 shows and spun-off seven motion pictures. The final "Lum and Abner" film was released in 1956.
The town of Pine Ridge still focuses on the memory of "Lum and Abner" and is the location of the Lum and Abner Museum. The museum features a replica of the legendary "Jot 'em Down Store" which was the central setting of the radio programs.
Adapted from the article Lum and Abner (http://www.wikinfo.org/wiki.phtml?title=Lum_and_Abner), from Wikinfo, licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
External links
- National Lum & Abner Society home page (http://home.inu.net/stemple/)